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Archive for the ‘World Cafe Live’ Category

McSweeney’s #13 (2006)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Africa, Alex Robinson, Alison Bechdel, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Ander Nilson, Archer Prewitt, Art Spiegelman, Ben Katchor, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Bud Fischer, Bust, Canadian Content, Charles Burns, Charles Schulz, Chester Brown, Chip Kidd, Chris Ware, Collecting, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Daniel Clowes, David Collier, David Heatley, David Lasky, Death, Debbie Dreschler, Depression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Esther Pearl Watson, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gary Panter, Ghosts, Gilbert Hernandez, Gilbert Shelton, Glen David Gold, Graphic Novel, History, HOB, Huh?, Ira Glass, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, Jeffrey Brown, Jesse Reklaw, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, John McLenan, John Porcellino, John Updike, John Woodring, Jonathan Bennett, Julie Doucet, Justin Hall, Kaz, Kim Deitch, Kurt Wolfgang, LGBTQ, Lilli Carré, Lloyd Dangle, Louis Reil, Lynda Barry, Malachi B. Cohen, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Marriage Trouble, Masturbation, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Michael Chabon, Military, Milt Gross, Oddities, Olivia Schanzer, Parts & Labor, Philip Guston, R. Crumb, Rebecca Dart, Richard McGuire, Richard Sala, Rodolphe Töpffer, Ron Rege, S. Kierkegaard, Seth Tobocman, Sex, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Surreal, Tim Samuelson, Tom Hart, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, William Faulkner, World Cafe Live on January 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

13SOUNDTRACK: PARTS & LABOR-Stay Afraid (2006).

partslaborParts & Labor have changed t heir style over the years going from noisemakers who have a melody to being melodious noisemakers.  This album is one of their earlier releases when noise dominated.  Right from the opening you know the album is going to be a challenge.  The first song has pounding drums (electronics that sound like bagpipes) and heavy distorted shouty vocals.  By the end of the songs there is squealing feedback, punk speed drums and screaming distorted vocals (complete with space sound effects).  It’s an aggressive opening for sure.  Song two opens with a long low rumbling and then “Drastic Measures” proves to be another fast-paced song.

“A Pleasant Stay” is 5 minutes long (most of the rest of the album’s songs are about 3 minutes).  It continues in this fast framework, although it has a bit more open moments of just drums or just vocals.  The way the band plays with feedback in the last minute or so of the song  very cool.

“New Buildings” has a hardcore beat with a guitar part that sounds sped up.  “Death” is a thumping song (the drums are very loud on this disc), while “Timeline” is two minutes of squealing guitars.  “Stay Afraid” has a false start (although who knows why–how do these guys know if the feedback sounds are what  they wanted anyhow?).  The song ends with 30 seconds of sheer noise).  The album ends with the 5 minute “Changing of the Guard” a song not unlike the rest of the album–noisy with loud drumming and more noise.

The album is certainly challenging, it’s abrasive and off putting, but there;s surprising pleasures and melodies amidst the chaos.   Indeed, after a listen or two you start to really look forward to the hooks.  If you like this sort of thing, this album s a joy.  It’s also quite brief, so it never overstays its welcome.

[READ: April 15, 2011] McSweeney’s #13

I have been looking forward to reading this issue for quite some time.  Indeed, as soon as I received it I wanted to put aside time for it.  It only took eight years.  For this is the fabled comics issue.  Or as the cover puts it: Included with this paper: a free 264 page hardcover.  Because the cover is a fold-out poster–a gorgeous broadside done by Chris Ware called “God.”  And as with all Chris Ware stories, this is about life, the universe and everything.  On the flip side of the (seriously, really beautiful with gold foil and everything) Ware comic are the contributors’ list and a large drawing that is credited to LHOOQ which is the name of Marcel Duchamp’s art piece in which he put a mustache on the Mona Lisa.  It’s a kind of composite of the history of famous faces in art all done in a series of concentric squares.  It’s quite cool.

So, yes, this issue is all about comics.  There are a couple of essays, a couple of biographical sketches by Ware of artists that I assume many people don’t know and there’s a few unpublished pieces by famous mainstream artists.  But the bulk of the book is comprised of underground (and some who are not so underground anymore) artists showing of their goods.  It’s amazing how divergent the styles are for subject matter that is (for the most part) pretty similar: woe is me!  Angst fills these pages.  Whether it is the biographical angst of famous artists by Brunetti or the angst of not getting the girl (most of the others) or the angst of life (the remaining ones), there’s not a lot of joy here. Although there is a lot of humor.  A couple of these comics made it into the Best American Comics 2006.

There’s no letters this issue, which makes sense as the whole thing is Chris Ware’s baby.  But there are two special tiny books that fit nearly into the fold that the oversized cover makes.  There’s also two introductions.  One by Ira Glass (and yes I’d rather hear him say it but what can you do).  And the other by Ware.  Ware has advocated for underground comics forever and it’s cool that he has a forum for his ideas here.  I’m not sure I’ve ever read prose from him before. (more…)

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Philippe Claudel–“The Investigation” (Harper’s, May 2012) [excerpt]

Posted in Franz Kafka, Grateful Dead, Harper's, Huh?, John Cullen, Megafaun, Philippe Claudel, Translation, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on April 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MEGAFAUN-Live from the World Cafe, November 9, 2011 (2011).

I loved the Megafaun song “Get Right,” a trippy 8 minute workout.  So I was interested to hear them in this live setting.  There’s a lengthy interview with WXPN’s Michaela Majoun (full of all kinds of details about Bon Iver–whom they used to play with before they broke up and he became Bon Iver–and about, North Carolina and Wisconsin and lutefisk).  And the band plays three songs, too.

“Real Slow” opens with a banjo (and it is real slow).  It has a very Grateful Dead feel to it and beautiful harmonies.  After the freak out of “Get Right” I was quite surprised to hear such a traditional folky song from them.  “Second Friend” is a but more upbeat–bright guitars and more beautiful harmonies.  It’s a simple song.  “State/Meant” has a bit more electric guitar, but it continues in the folkie vein.

I admit I didn’t enjoy this set as much as I expected.  The songs were really nice, but they didn’t really push any envelopes sonically, especially compared to “Get Right.”  But at the same time, what they do, they do very well.

You can hear it here.

[READ: April 23, 2012] “The Investigation”

This is an excerpt from a novel called The Investigation which is coming out in English (translated by John Cullen) in July.

I don’t know what the story is all about because this excerpt is really bizarre and wonderful, but it’s certainly not any indication of what the storyline will be.  However, it is a huge indication (I imagine) of what the story will be like.

The word “Kafkaesque” is thrown around a lot (well, in my house it is anyhow), but this excerpt is really and truly Kafkaesque.  The Investigator wakes up in a tiny hotel room to the sound of a telephone ringing.  He is naked and has no idea how he got there. And the telephone appears to be attached to the ceiling.  He has a confusing conversation on the phone that opens more questions about his situation. (more…)

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Ben Marcus–“The First Venom” (Harper’s, December 2011)

Posted in Ben Marcus, Disease, Fears, Harper's, Helium, McSweeney's, New Yorker, Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, World Cafe Live on November 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WILD FLAG-World Cafe, November 10, 2011 (2011).

I’ve been really enjoying Wild Flag’s debut album.  Wild Flag consists of Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, Rebecca Cole, who I don’t know but who has been in a few different indie bands, and Mary Timony from Helium.

This World Cafe episode is a brief interview (mostly with Carrie, although all four women are present), in which they talk about the origins of the band and what it’s like to play as a foursome. 

There are three songs and the band sounds tight and perfect.  In fact they sound so perfect I almost wondered if they were really playing live (but there’s one keyboard flub that proves that humans are involved).

It’s a great sample of the record, which is all great, and it’s a good chance to get caught up with these rocking women. 

[READ: November 15, 2011] “The First Venom”

This is an excerpt from Marcus’ forthcoming novel, The Flame Alphabet.   I’ve read a number of Marcus’ things in the past and I realized that most of his McSweeney’s pieces I do not like.  Some of the short stories in the New Yorker I have enjoyed, although usually not right away.  So, clearly Marcus and I don’t see eye to eye on fiction.

And that’s the case with this excerpt.  It’s hard for me to say I wouldn’t read a longer piece based just on an excerpt because who knows what else the rest of the book contains (this could be a small fraction of a much different story), but this excerpt absolutely didn’t make me want to read any more.

In the excerpt, a married couple is sickened by their daughter.  Literally.  All of the words that she says and whispers and scribbles wash a sickness over her parents.  They cringe and try to get away but she keeps talking and talking.

At first this seemed like a metaphorical sickness–who hasn’t grown tired of their kid’s incessant chatter, but it soon becomes clear that this is very real. (more…)

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Anthony Myint & Karen Leibowitz–Mission Street Food: Reciped and Ideas from an Improbable Restuarant (2011)

Posted in Anthony Myint, Big Books, Bill Fox, Chocolate, Cook Book, Depeche Mode, Essays, Funky Web Sites, Graphic Novel, Karen Leibowitz, Lucky Peach, Marriage (Happy), McSweeney's, Memoirs, Mission Street Food, Nada Surf, The Go-Betweens, World Cafe Live on October 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: NADA SURF-Plays Covers on World Cafe (May 13, 2010).

I didn’t even know that Nada Surf had released a covers album (sometimes things slip through the cracks), but when NPR previewed their new song, I learned that they played some covers for World Cafe (not downloadable, sadly) to promote the album. 

So I’m going to be investigating that covers album shortly.  In the meantime, we get this very enjoyable four-song set (three covers and one of their own tracks). 

The band chats with David Dye briefly (about 5 minutes) before busting into the songs (a wonderful explanation of Bill Fox and a mention of reading about him in The Believer).  Their own track is “Whose Authority” one of their many wonderful songs.

The three covers are “Love Goes On” (by the Go-Betweens), “Enjoy the Silence” (by Depeche Mode) and “Electrocution” (by Bill Fox).  I didn’t recognize the first song until the Ba-ba-ba chorus kicked in, although I admit I’m not terribly familiar with it.  Similarly, the final song by Bill Fox is very obscure (as is Fox himself).  Both of these two songs are played with jangly guitars and are poppy and quite enjoyable.

The Depeche Mode song is the one that I already really knew well.  And boy do they make it their own.  They turn it from a somber dirge (catchy but somber) into a more upbeat almost poppy folk song.  It will probably be a polarizing cover (if anyone cares enough about Nada Surf to listen) and while I don’t think it’s as good as the original, it works so well in the context of a Nada Surf show, that it’ hard to argue with it.

Nada Surf is one of the great unsung bands and it’s hard to believe they aren’t more successful.

[READ: October 21, 2011] Mission Street Food

With Lucky Peach, McSweeney’s entered into the world of food publishing.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Lucky Peach.  But when I received Mission Street Food, I was no longer in the frame of mind to get excited to read this book, which, as the subtitle says, promises recipes and ideas.  And when I first flipped through it, I got to the recipes pages and said, well, when will I ever read this?

Then one night recently I couldn’t sleep and Mission Street Food was there, so I read the Preface.  And Anthony Myint has a great writing style, a great flair for telling a story and a wonderful story to tell.  Needless  to say, I read almost the whole first section before falling asleep.  And I was excited to tackle the rest of the book.

I hate to sound like I think that McSweeney’s has changed the way food book publishing is done, because that would be unfair.  I don’t read food publishing as a rule.  I can’t even enjoy looking in my wife’s cooking magazines.  Seeing names of foods and recipes for preparing them just doesn’t do anything for me.  But maybe the narrative of those books is more interesting than I give them credit.  Maybe I should sit down with another foodie book and see what it’s all about. (more…)

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Stephen Marche–“Tom Cruise at Vostok” (The Walrus, September 2008)

Posted in Canadian Content, Funny (ha ha), Research, Richard Thompson, Short Story, Stephen Marche, Supernatural, The Walrus, World Cafe Live on June 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON World Cafe Live, September 5, 2005 (2005).

World Cafe love Richard Thompson.  And this set from 2005 seems to have RT playing more than they actually air.  I say that in part because I have no idea how the World Cafe shows work.  Do they just play three or four songs?  The sets where they play in the studio between interviews sure makes it seem that way.  But this set is clearly Richard being interviewed after a performance.  So who knows how many songs he played.

5 songs make this download.  Two of them come from his (then) new album Front Parlour Ballads (“Let It Blow” & “The Thames Side”).  There’s one “brand new” song, which doesn’t appear anywhere as far as I can tell called “Hots for the Smarts” which is one of RT’s great funny clever songs (the lyrics are all very smart things).

The final two songs are classics: “Hokey Pokey” (where’d he pull that one out of?) and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (which always sounds great).

RT has hundreds of great songs, so it’s impossible to winnow down to a great set (especially one that’s just five songs long) but this set (which is just him solo) sounds really great and is worth hearing for any RT fan.

[READ:April 8, 2011] “Tom Cruise at Lake Vostok”

This is a very short story that I feel is hindered by the title.  Sure, the title is a major grabber, but it’s also a spoiler.

The story is set at the Vostok Station in Antarctica.  Scientists are doing an amazing amount of research in all manner of departments.  The protagonist is there to study Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon; meanwhile, a Russian scientist is there to study under the ice (she has a cryobot and all kinds of cool things that burrow through the thick layer of ice).

There are many other scientists at the Station, but since it take a full month to reach Vostok by tractor train, many of them have nothing to do but wait for their ride back.  In the meantime, there is gossip about everyone there–especially the protagonist and the Russian woman who seem so antagonistic towards each other that everyone suspects they’re having an affair.

Then she uncovers an artifact that is so amazing she has to talk to someone about it.  So she calls him on his walkie-talkie.  And this is where the spoiler happens. (more…)

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Nadia Kalman–“The Counterpart” (The Walrus, July/August 2007)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Broken Social Scene, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Feist, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Metric, Nadia Kalman, Short Story, The Walrus, World Cafe Live on May 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE-World Cafe March 2, 2006 (2006).

Broken Social Scene played at the World Cafe not long after their release of Broken Social Scene (their 3rd album).  This download is primarily an interview between World Cafe’s David Dye and BSS’s Kevin Drew & Brendan Canning, but there’s also three songs that the band played for the session (it’s impossible to know how many songs they played in total, because the songs were recorded prior to the interview–I’m not even sure how many members played live as they were never introduced.)

The songs sound interesting in this recording.  I haven’t listened to the album in a long time, so I don’t recall if these versions sound like the disc; however, these three tracks are fascinating for how quiet they seem to be, despite the fact that there are so many people in the session.  “Something for the Holidays” has at least one violin, a horn section, guitars and several vocalists, and yet it’s rather quiet.  Not mixed quiet mind you, but like everybody is whispering (even the horns).  It makes for an amazingly intimate session.

“Major Label Debut” is a bit more stripped down, but there are clearly a lot of people playing.  The final track, “Ibi Dreams of Pavement” really sounds like a Pavement song in the beginning.  The slightly out of tune violins work perfectly, and whoever is singing has a Stephen Malkmus thing down quite well.

The interview is fascinating (and quite lengthy).  They discuss the origins of the band, how fifteen people can play and tour together and the amazing success that so many of the individuals of the band have had (Feist, Metric etc).  There’s also an explanation about the origin of the title and the sounds of “Ibi Dreams of Pavement.”

It’s a good session and is certainly going to get me to listen to their discs again.

[READ: April 4, 2011] “The Counterpart”

This bizarre story can certainly be called Kafkaesque, if for no other reason than that the narrator, Aleksey, wakes up from a night of drinking to find out that his nose is gone.  Not torn off, not bloody, not broken, just gone.  His face is now flat with two holes for breathing.

This bizarre incident no doubt stems from his childhood hatred of his large Semitic nose (despite his being a Christian) and the years of abuse he received about it.  First he thinks his lover, Tatiana, is somehow responsible.  But when she comes over she is just as surprised as he.  Nevertheless, she is insistent that he must carry on as normal, for he must improve his lot (and thereby hers).

Because Aleksey is not faring so well (nose aside).  He has not been given tenure, his wife and child have left him and he is stuck translating poor Russian works into English.  Tatiana has set up a job interview for him and the interview is today.  But how can he go with no nose? (more…)

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Lore Segal–“The Ice Worm” (Harper’s, May 2011)

Posted in Guster, Harper's, Lore Segal, Short Story, World Cafe Live on May 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GUSTER-World Cafe Live December 3, 2010 (2010).

I heard that Guster was going to be on the Free at Noon show about fifteen minutes before it started (and then I had to go to work). So I missed this show.  I was pretty excited to see that it was available on World Cafe Live.  But I was surprised to see that the show (plus a fourteen minute interview!) was only about 28 minutes long.  I’ve had questions about how the World Cafe shows work.  It always seems like the show would be longer (four songs for a concert seems like more trouble than its worth).  And then I found…

This page which helps explain the World Cafe stage a bit more.  The Guster concert was a Free at Noon show for WXPN in Philadelphia. The full set list was Set List:  1. Architects & Engineers  2. Satellite  3. Hercules  4. This Could All Be Yours  5. Bad Bad World  6. Stay With Me, Jesus  7. Do You Love Me  8. Hang On.  So the World Cafe archives truncate the sets (which is what it feels like on some of the shows–at least the ones that have an audience).

But then beggars can’t be choosers (especially for a free show).  So, this download includes:  Satellite, This Could All Be Yours, Stay With Me, Jesus and Do You Love Me (plus the lengthy interview).  The set is fantastic (as you expect from Guster), their harmonies are tight and sharp, the songs sound wonderful and they are catchy as all get out.  Two of these songs are from their new album, and they work perfectly with the older ones (even if they do slow things down a wee bit).

The interview is also interesting as it reveals the guys to be smart and thoughtful and it shows a side of them that’s not always apparent from their songs.  It’s a wonderful download.  Thanks NPR.

[READ: April 16, 2011] “The Ice Worm”

This story began as one thing and then turned into something else entirely. As the story opens, Ilka Weiss is in a nursing home, and we learn that her daughter, Maggie, has come to take her home (even though the nurses think she should stay).  When we see Ilka, she is reciting the Bible from memory (the passage where King David is going to fight the Philistines).  This goes on for a page (a funny scene with the family interrupting her but her continuing unabated), but it sets a certain tone for the story.

The next scene sees Maggie getting the runaround in bureaucratic hell as she tries to arrange for a visiting nurse to come for her mother.  It is an absolute hell of misinformation.  And she is not able to secure anything for two weeks.  When they finally call back, Maggie has taken Ilka to the hospital. (more…)

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Five Dials Number 2 (2008)

Posted in Advice, Alain de Botton, All Songs Considered, Arthur Bradford, Books about writers, Craig Taylor, Environmentalism, Five Dials, Funny (strange), Jay Griffiths, Laura Oldfield Ford, Military, Nature, Poetry, Raymond Chandler, Robert MacFarlane, Roger Deakin, The Weakerthans, World Cafe Live on April 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WEAKERTHANS-World Cafe Live, December 5, 2007 (2007).

I really like the Weakerthans, and they are surprisingly unknown here in the States.  I say surprisingly because they write exceptionally catchy (almost absurdly poppy) songs which would fit on many radio stations’ playlists.  But what sets them apart is John K. Samson’s lyrics which are clever and interesting and about people and loss (maybe that’s why they never made it down here).

This World Cafe set came about shortly after the release of their last studio album, Reunion Tour.  David Dye asks some great questions (I’ve never really seen/heard any interviews with them, so it’s all new to me) and the band plays three songs from the album.

We learn that Reunion Tour was initially inspired by Edward Hopper paintings (and the whole album was going to be devoted to Hopper until Samson grew sensible again).  We also learn the official pronunciation of the recurring cat on the Weakerthans albums is Virtute (Vir-too-tay) which comes from the city of Winnipeg’s crest.

They play “Night Windows,” “Civil Twilight” (and talk about the video, which I watched and it’s very cool), and “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure.”  The interesting things about the Weakerthans is that they don’t sound all that different live than on record.  So, these songs aren’t terribly revelatory.  There are some effects that are changed, and the tempos feel slightly different as well.  But nevertheless, the songs sound great.  The only problem is that the set seems mixed rather loudly, so there’s distortion (unintended, I assume) on some of the tracks.

Nevertheless, this is a great introduction to a relatively unknown band.

[READ: April 19, 2011] Five Dials Number 2

After just one issue, Five Dials has already lied to us.  In Number One, they said that all of the artwork would be black and white, but here is Number 2, and we have a host of beautiful color pictures (perhaps they only meant that Number 1 would be in black and white).   Of course, I’m only teasing them because the color pictures are really nice, and they really bring a new aspect to the magazine.

Number Two is a bit larger than Number 1 (twenty pages).  This issue has a vague sort of theme as well (it’s unclear if the issues will be thematic in the future), but this one has a general theme of adventure/nature/environmentalism. (more…)

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The Best American Comics 2006 (2006)

Posted in Africa, Alex Robinson, Alison Bechdel, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Ander Nilson, Ben Katchor, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Bust, Canadian Content, Chris Ware, Collecting, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, David Heatley, David Lasky, Death, Depression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Esther Pearl Watson, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Ghosts, Gilbert Shelton, Graphic Novel, HOB, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, Jesse Reklaw, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, John Porcellino, Jonathan Bennett, Justin Hall, Kim Deitch, Kurt Wolfgang, LGBTQ, Lilli Carré, Lloyd Dangle, Lynda Barry, Military, Olivia Schanzer, R. Crumb, Rebecca Dart, Rick Geary, Seth Tobocman, Sex, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Tom Hart, War, World Cafe Live on April 20, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH on World Cafe, August 21, 2006 (2006).

Travelling back even further on the NPR timeline, Sonic Youth appeared on World Cafe in 2006 to promote Rather Ripped.

This is a brief session (only three songs) but as with the interview with Thurston Moore, David Dye does another great interviewing the band here.  Although it must be said that saying the band is once again a four piece (when clearly there are five people in the picture and in the studio and when he later says two guitars, two basses and drums–which I also think is incorrect, as I’m pretty sure Kim switched to guitars at this point, although I don’t know if she did during this set) is not a great way to start the interview.

Facts aside, the interview is informative and interesting and provides a glimpse into the band’s psyche all these years into their career.

The set is also good (although Thurston’s voice sounds a little off on the opener “Incinerate”).  The surprising thing about the set is that even with the five of them, the feeling is one of restraint. True, the songs on Rather Ripped are not as noisy as previous records, but this feels like they are trying not to wake anybody up the NPR folks.  It’s a weird feeling for a Sonic Youth set, but the plus side to it is that you can really hear everything clearly.

The other two songs are sung by Kim: “Jams Run Free” and “What a Waste” (why do they never promote any of Lee’s songs??).  And there’s the very amusing comment that the first time they played “What a Waste” Thurston and Kim’s daughter said it sounded like the theme from Friends.  Ha!

[READ: April 15, 2011] The Best American Comics 2006

I just recently learned about this series from The Best American line of books.  I had known about the Best American Short Stories and Essays and even Non-Required Reading (which I have not yet read).  But once I found out about the best comics, I knew I had to check it out.

The first issue came out in 2006.  The series editor is Anne Elizabeth Moore and the Guest Editor for this volume was Harvey Pekar.  Each of them has an introductory essay in the book.  To me the amazing thing about Pekar”s essay is how aggressively defensive he sounds (a sort of, “you may not like this one, but try this one” attitude) about these comics and comics in general.  I don’t know much about Pekar’s work.  I know he’s a kind of underground icon, but I seem to have missed him.  My impression of him is that this sort of antagonistic/defensive attitude seems to go along quite well with his comics, so I guess that makes sense, but I didn’t find it very welcoming.

But that’s okay, because I really enjoyed the comics.  And quite a few were by artists that I had never read before, which is even better! (more…)

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The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis (2010)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Anarchy, End of the World, Funny (ha ha), Futurama, Graphic Novel, Matt Groening, Meta, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Technology, The Simpsons, Threats, Thurston Moore, Time Travel, World Cafe Live on April 19, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THURSTON MOORE-World Cafe Studio, November 16, 2007 (2007).

This World Cafe set is a nice contrast to the all-acoustic performance mentioned yesterday (even if it was recorded earlier).  Thurston has a full band with him (including Steve Shelly on drums).  Samara Lubelski from the other session is here too.  The band brings new dimensions to what are mostly the same set of songs.  Both sets included “The Shape is in a Trance,” and “Fri/End” but this one also includes “Honest James.”  The contrast is striking though.  The songs are bigger with the band (and allow for more intricacies) but they are still intimate.

  The interview is also interesting.  David Dye is a fantastic interviewer and he gets some great (and funny) answers out of Thurston. The whole description of how the lyrics to “Fri/End” came about is really cool (if unlikely).

Thurston and NPR: perfect together.

[READ: April 15, 2011] The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis.

This was a wonderful Christmas surprise from Sarah this year.  It is a beautifully packaged (slipcase with a cut-away opening) hardcover edition of the 2002 & 2005 Simpson/Futurama crossover comics issues.

Despite all of my fondness for The Simpsons and Futurama, I never really got into the comics (gotta draw a line somewhere).  But they have Matt Groening’s seal of approval, and they play jokes with things that the show never really touches (not to mention, the shows never tries a crossover event–I can’t even imagine how that would work). (more…)

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